Overstepping…again.
March 24th, 2008 by Kenneth Burns
What does Governors Martin O’Malley and Parris Glendening, Senate President Thomas Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Busch all have in common. I’ll give you a hint, it’s something beyond being all Democrats. These are Democrats in particular who have been rebuffed or criticized in a court of law.
The latest page in this story is Governor O’Malley who according to the Court of Appeals, erred in firing one of the two police commissioners in the past decade who frankly gave a damn about lowering crime in Baltimore, the homicide rate specifically.
The Gazette reporting that the high court said that when O’Malley was Mayor of Baltimore City, he made an oopsie in December 2004 by firing then police commissioner Kevin Clark under contract terms that the court said conflicted with state law, upholding a 2006 ruling by the Court of Special Appeals ruling.
Clark is seeking $120 million in damages and his job back, that lawsuit is going back to Circuit Court for trial. Clark and his lawyer said they were pleased with the ruling, O’Malley’s office said they would support any effort by the city to clarify the law, to give it the same authority to hire and fire police chiefs as other county executives.
Under current law, the Baltimore City Police is a state agency, and has been since the civil war era. The mayor has the power to appoint a top cop only. Clark was fired by O’Malley because the latter believed that domestic abuse allegations impaired his ability to lead.
Brad Says
Uh, memo to the author– BPD has NEVER been managed by the State. How else would Sean ‘the bone’ Malone get a job? How about Rachel Guillory? The place is full of hacks and ran through the Mayor with the cooperation (or lack thereof) of City Hall.
Now do you remember WHY O’Malley fired Kevin Clark? If you don’t, why don’t you email Sean Malone and ask him what was on his laptop and the other people’s laptops? See if he’ll be honest. He doesn’t have to be honest since maybe someone already has a copy of what he said and they’re just waiting and watching ;).
Mar 29th, 2008 at 10:06 pm
P. Kenneth Burns Says
Memo to Brad…read the link to The Gazette Article. The Baltimore City Police are a state agency, even though it is ran by the city. The Mayor only has the power to appoint a commissioner if I am reading this article correctly.
And while you had brought it up, City Hall nor the Mayor should not be running the police department. That’s why a commissioner is appointed. The Mayor and City Hall should only step in if the commish is not doing his or her job.
Mar 30th, 2008 at 10:37 am